Ferguson: Proof That America is Turning Into a Militarized Police State

Equipped with fatigues, assault weapons and armored vehicles,
the police response in Ferguson, Missouri was proof that America is
quickly becoming a militarized police state.

Disclaimer: This is not a blog post meant to take a side in whether Michael Brown was murdered by Police or the actions of Michael Brown legitimized the shots that fatally killed him. It is rather another post about the ever increasing Police State in America and how quickly peace can turn to Martial Law. - W.E.

The shooting and killing of 18 year-old Michael Brown by a police
officer sparked outrage in Ferguson, Missouri – a city that is
predominantly Black but where the police force is overwhelmingly White.According to eye witnesses, the young man was shot about eight times,
even though he was unarmed and had his hands in the air. Ferguson police
officials stated that Brown was attempting to take a police officer’s
weapon – a version of the story that was contradicted by various eye
witness accounts.The death of the young man at the hand of police caused protests
which degenerated into looting and rioting. Far from attempting to calm
the situation, local authorities turned Ferguson into an occupied war
zone as police showcased its vast array of military equipment. Ferguson,
an inner-suburb of the Midwest suddenly occupied by soldiers equipped
with military fatigues, kevlar vests, helmets, tear gas and assault
weapons, followed by armored vehicles topped by snipers. Some war
veterans even noticed that “police officers” were better equipped than
they were while serving in Iraq.This kind of upsetting scene is becoming increasingly common in
America as police forces across the country have been actively
purchasing military equipment in the past few years.Walter Olson from the Cato Institute stated:

Why armored vehicles in a Midwestern inner suburb? Why
would cops wear camouflage gear against a terrain patterned by
convenience stores and beauty parlors? Why are the authorities in
Ferguson, Mo. so given to quasi-martial crowd control methods (such as
bans on walking on the street) and, per the reporting of Riverfront Times,
the firing of tear gas at people in their own yards? (“‘This my
property!’ he shouted, prompting police to fire a tear gas canister
directly at his face.”) Why would someone identifying himself as an 82nd
Airborne Army veteran, observing the Ferguson police scene, comment
that “We rolled lighter than that in an actual warzone”?

“The Department of Homeland Security has handed out
anti-terrorism grants to cities and towns across the country, enabling
them to buy armored vehicles, guns, armor, aircraft, and other
equipment. Federal agencies of all stripes, as well as local police
departments in towns with populations less than 14,000, come equipped
with SWAT teams and heavy artillery.”

Ferguson police also a tactic that is seen in Gaza-like war zones
when they actively targeted journalists and anyone filming policemen at
work.

The arrests and tear-gassing of journalists
in an American city is an outrage—in part because everyone is the media
now. “Stop videotaping!” It’s about the first thing you hear in the handheld video
Washington Post journalist Wesley Lowery took of his being arrested by
police in Ferguson, Mo., Wednesday night, along with Ryan Reilly of the
Huffington Post, for “trespassing”—in an open McDonald’s—while covering
the unrest after the shooting death by police of Michael Brown. The two
journalists were detained, roughed up and held in a cell before being
released later the same night. (…)

Others in the streets were tear-gassed and
hit by rubber bullets as police met the protesters, outfitted in SWAT
gear and accompanied by snipers on armored vehicles. Nor were they they
the only journalists targeted: here you can see footage of an Al Jazeera
America crew fleeing their video equipment after getting hit with tear gas, after which a SWAT vehicle pulls up and police take down the camera and lights.

A SWAT team. To take out cameras. In the
United States of America. Because you know how dangerous it is when
people start pointing those things around.
- Time, “It’s Now Guns vs. Camera in Ferguson”

TV crew fleeing after receiving tear gas near its equipment.

Events in Ferguson prove that America is turning into a militarized
police state and that it doesn’t take much to point military gear on
American citizens.